{"id":5291,"date":"2013-12-11T12:00:28","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T20:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=5291"},"modified":"2013-12-12T16:31:39","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T00:31:39","slug":"guest-column-a-brubeck-anniversary-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/12\/guest-column-a-brubeck-anniversary-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Column: A Brubeck Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brubeck<\/a>The two volumes of Dave Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jazz at the College of the Pacific<\/em> on the Fantasy label have never received quite the degree of acclaim that met Jazz at Oberlin<\/em>, recorded earlier in 1953. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a puzzle; The C.O.P. albums often equal the brilliance of Oberlin<\/em> and of the phenomenally successful Jazz Goes to College<\/em>, the quartet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first LP for Columbia.<\/p>\n

Having blazed the trail that opened college campuses to performances by major jazz groups, Brubeck’s C.O.P. concert was a triumphal return to his alma mater and a highlight of his band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dozens of campus appearances in the early 1950s. In the week of the concert\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 50th anniversary and a year after Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death at 91, we welcome Professor Keith Hatschek of what is now the University of the Pacific. Professor Hatschek writes for Rifftides<\/em> about the event and the recording.<\/p>\n

\"DBQ<\/a><\/p>\n

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Jazz at the College of the Pacific\u00e2\u20ac\u201dCelebrating a Landmark Recording<\/strong><\/div>\n
By Keith Hatschek<\/iframe><\/div>\n

On December 14,1953, the Dave Brubeck Quartet played a concert at the College of the Pacific that was immortalized on the iconic album Jazz at the College of the Pacific<\/em><\/a> (Fantasy OJCCD-047-2). The esteemed jazz critic Nat Hentoff gave the recording five stars at the time of its release and wrote that it, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153. . . ranks with the Oberlin and Storyville sets as the best of Brubeck on record.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Time has done little to diminish the impact of this classic live recording. The set showcases the Quartet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to weave melodic, rhythmic and dynamic elements into a cohesive sound that is at once both easily accessible to the casual listener while offering a depth of contrapuntal and thematic invention that merits repeated listening by the jazz aficionado.<\/p>\n

Since his 1942 graduation from College of Pacific, aka C.O.P., pianist Dave Brubeck had grown significantly as a musician and bandleader. Wartime service, leading the first integrated U.S. Army band, finding his own compositional voice while studying on the G.I. Bill with the storied French composer Darius Milhaud, marrying Iola Whitlock, eventually starting a family, leading his ground-breaking Jazz Workshop Octet, suffering a severe neck injury body surfing in Hawaii, founding the Dave Brubeck Trio and, eventually, the Dave Brubeck Quartet\u00e2\u20ac\u201d life was never dull in the Brubeck family household!<\/p>\n

\"dbp<\/a>The 1953 version of the Quartet was anchored by the smooth and swinging grooves established by drummer Joe Dodge and bassist Ron Crotty. Over their rhythmic bed, the free-ranging flights of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond and Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own imaginative and singular improvisations would soar in the C.O.P. Music Conservatory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s packed concert hall. The original release featured only about half of the performance, six songs (due to the time limitations of 33 1\/3 LPs). While none of them was a Brubeck original, the enthusiastic response of the audience shows just how much the Quartet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interpretations connected with the student audience.<\/p>\n

That night was the third time since his return from military service that Dave had performed in concert at\"The-Dave-Brubeck-Quartet-Jazz-at-the-College-of-the-Pacific\"<\/a> his alma mater. All three of these early concerts were the result of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music fraternity, raising the money to hire Dave\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s various groups and bring them back to campus. In 1948, his experimental Jazz Workshop Octet, formed in 1946, performed on campus, presenting their new and imaginative take on jazz standards, as well as original pieces. Looking back on the Octet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music today, it is clear that they helped to establish a totally new direction in West Coast jazz, one that would be developed along similar lines by Miles Davis soon after with his own New York-based Nonet in 1949-50. Some of the Octet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earliest pieces can be heard on Dave Brubeck Octet<\/em><\/a>, also available on Fantasy.<\/p>\n

While the Octet provided inspiration to many, finding work that paid adequately for an eight-piece ensemble proved impossible, so Dave formed a trio and in 1950, they were invited back to perform at C.O.P., for another sold-out show. In 1951, as Dave was recovering from his Hawaiian misadventure (he had been there performing with his trio with drummer Cal Tjader and Jack Weeks subbing for Ron Crotty, who had been drafted), Brubeck wrote to Paul Desmond, a former member of the Octet, seeking to start a Quartet with Paul and a rhythm section. Tjader and Weeks had been asked by Fantasy to start a new group that would go on to success as the Cal Tjader Trio. With the prolonged convalescence that Dave\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neck injury required, he invited Desmond to share the solo spotlight and make his own return to performing less strenuous.<\/p>\n

Thus, the earliest incarnation of one of the most celebrated jazz groups in history was formed out of necessity in the wake of Dave\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s injury. With a few changes in the rhythm section, by 1953 they had hit their stride as can be heard on the seminal recording from March 1953, Jazz at Oberlin<\/em><\/a>, and their various recordings spanning 1952-54 packaged as Jazz at Storyville<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nick Phillips, Vice President of A&R and Jazz Catalog for Concord Music Group, which acquired Fantasy Records in the early 2000\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adds his own perspective:<\/p>\n

Brubeck’s Jazz at the College of Pacific<\/em> recording is both one of the most exciting and popular of his Fantasy Records-era albums — exciting for both the performances and the unbridled audience reaction to them. Along with Jazz at Oberlin<\/em>, it was also pioneering: Presenting and recording jazz concerts at colleges simply wasn’t done before Brubeck did it. And it inspired a generation of college students to get into jazz.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n